Erdogan Takes Revenge

Now that most protests have come to an end and the rest of the world is focusing on Egypt rather than Turkey, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has decided that the time is ripe for some good, old-fashioned revenge. Turkish style.

As I reported earlier for FrontPage Magazine, it started early in July, when a few journalists were publicly harrangued for their coverage of the protests in Gezi Park. One of them was even publicly called a “traitor” by the mayor of Ankara, a member of the prime minister’s party, the AK Parti (Justice and Development Party).

In the following weeks, as many as 22 journalists and columnists have been fired since the start of the famous protests in Istanbul and other major Turkish cities. Thirty-seven others had to accept a “forced leave of absence,” meaning that they had to pretend to enjoy some precious off-time, while they, in fact, were desperate to get back to work.

One of the fired columnists is Yavuz Baydar from the daily Sabah. His first mistake was, as Sabah’s ombudsman, publishing letters from readers that criticized the government’s stance on the protests. After that he went even further by writing a column related to the protests and media-government relations. The editorial board refused to publish his piece, however.

At that moment, Baydar decided to take a leave of absence. Instead of keeping silent about the stranglehold in which the government holds the media, he decided to speak out. In a column for the New York Times, he explained that media moguls are undermining the “basic principles of democracy” in Turkey. He added that media “bosses fear losing lucrative business deals with the government.”

After having written the opinion piece for the New York Times, Baydar once again tried to get a similar critical column published in Sabah. Instead, he was fired.

Many other journalists have have gone through the same ordeal in the last few weeks. And they are the lucky ones. According to Reporters Without Borders’ (RWB) World Press Freedom Index, the situation has gotten so out of hand that Turkey is now “the world’s biggest prison for journalists.” Yes, the country beats Afghanistan, North Korea, China, Iraq and Iran in that regard. Of course more journalists may be killed in some of those countries, but with regards to locking them up, Turkey leads them all.

Apparently, Erdogan is quite happy with that remarkable record. Instead of backing down, his government is arresting even more people. Not only journalists, but whomever has the audacity to criticize the AKP. For instance, nine more Twitter- users and protesters, living in five different cities, were recently detained.

At the same time, two “suspects” were sent to court on July 30 to face charges of “opposing the law on public marches and demonstrations.” Their crime? They had organized an iftar dinner in Gezi Park. An iftar dinner is the evening meal that breaks the fast during Ramadan. Erdogan organizes such dinners for his own supporters, but when those critical of him try to do the same they are considered enemies of the state, and quickly detained.

University students are in trouble too, for it was announced Tuesday that students who engage (or engaged) in “resistance, stage boycotts, chant slogans or become involved in similar activites” will no longer be granted student loans. The Higher Education Loans and Dormitories Institution (KYK) says that such activities constitute “a violation of the right to an education.”

That the constitutional and human right to free speech is being violated by punishing students apparently does not bother the Institution one bit. “In the education institutions he/she attends, in its extensions in the dormitory he/she resides, outside of the education institution or the dormitory, either solely or collectively, in whichever form, those who are concerned with events of anarchy and terrorism, engaging in behaviors violating the right to education (resistance, boycott, occupation, writing, painting, slogan-chanting, et cetera), whether attempted partially or fully,” are ineligible.

Note how the KYK uses words such as “anarchy” and “terrorism”: These are the same phrases Erdogan uses to describe the Gezi Park protesters. When he is not calling them “piteous rodents,” that is. Somewhat surprisingly, this report was later denied by Youth and Sports Minister Suat Kilic.

However, according to Hurriyet Daily News, the anti-protesting policy has been in place for several years, but has simply not been implemented. That might, the Turkish English-language newspaper says, change this year around.

Going after students in this fashion would undoubtedly make sense to the increasingly paranoid and authoritarian Erdogan since the protests were led by them and soccer (football) supporters … which leads me to another measure the AKP government may take according to the Interior Minister: outlawing “chanting political or ideological slogans at stadiums/matches.” If Erdogan and his allies have their way, no opinions critical of the AKP will be heard on campus, in stadiums, in parks, or on the streets. In other words: anywhere.

If Erdogan continues down this path, freedom of speech will be no more in Turkey. Sadly, I have little reason to believe that terrible fate can be averted. There still are no alternatives for voters who have had enough of the AKP, except the notoriously corrupt (secular) CHP and the radically-nationalist MHP. For many, that isn’t a choice at all.

Additionally, increasingly more people are allowing the government to silence them out of fear for their livelihoods. After all, students want – no, need – loans and journalists need to make money. Rather than growing a backbone and continuing their resistance regardless of the price to be paid, many opt for the easy way out: remaining silent, not saying a word about what they really think.

That’s why the freedom of speech may not only be on trial in Turkey, but may very well have already been sentenced to death. The prosecution and the judge want to end its life, and dissenting jurors, who understand what is at stake, are too afraid to intervene on the defendant’s behalf.

Michael van der Galien is managing editor for the Dutch website De Dagelijkse Standaard (The Daily Standard) and lives in Izmir, Turkey.

JeffWRidge

In some countries governments uses threats and outright force to silence the media and force them to knuckle under and be silent on abuses of the government. In the U.S. the media happily surrenders their sacred duty, ethics and freedom of press by actively covering up for a corrupt president because they agree with his policies.

Which is worse?

Michael_van_der_Galien

Hi Jeff,

Agreed, that’s what’s happening in the United States and other Western countries, and it’s horrible. Having said that, in those countries you are still free to dissent. Of course you won’t be able to work for the MSM then, but there are other ways to make your voice heard. See what FPM itself is doing, for instance.

However, the way things are going in Turkey, that will no longer be the case. At this moment already critical journalists and twitter-users are actually locked up. Once those rights are taken away from a people, it’s incredibly difficult to take them back, especially considering the technological tools governments have to keep check of what their people are saying and doing online.

JeffWRidge

I understand what you’re saying, and I do agree. Perhaps I didn’t express myself clearly. My point is, is it worse that one government is taking the media’s rights in their country, or is it worse that so many in media in America are willingly giving up the rights that others are fighting so valiantly to preserve?

Once the media, and the left in general, have made it commonplace not to oppose, or even investigate politicians based on their party affiliations, or agenda, then how long will it take before the government feels bold enough to try to take those and other rights away from the rest of us? There are some in our government who are already trying.

At least in Turkey it sounds like a lot of media people are willing to stand up to the authoritarian government. Here, its more likely to be online journalists like the late Andrew Breitbart who do the fighting. We’re on the verge of losing our rights because the media is not doing their job.

An active and alert media were supposed to be one of the primary defenses against the government growing too powerful and dictatorial. It’s like having one of the branches of our military side with our enemies.

Michael_van_der_Galien

“How long will it take before the government feels bold enough to try to take those and other rights away from the rest of us? There are some in our government who are already trying.”

A very good point, Jeff. You see a difference, indeed: in Turkey increasingly more journalists are afraid, which is why many of them choose to silence themselves. And if they don’t, the government goes after them. However, in the US it isn’t even a question of courage: they do it willingly. Heck, they’re proud of it!

Andrew was a friend of mine: he was indeed everything a journalist should be. Indeed, look at the old journalism, even in the time of America’s founding. Journalism back then was hard hitting and uncompromising. How things have changed: it’s now a voluntary docile profession.

Of course, in the US there still are people like Andrew who rise to the occasion every now. In Turkey, I see increasingly fewer of them. That particular species of brave journalists is dying out here, which worries me tremendously.

But yes, you certainly have a point that all is not well in the US or Europe either. We live in troubling times.

Ege

Hi, Ege from Turkey, Ankara.
Actually ther’s not lots of media people standing up. If you say anything about government, you’ll be fired tomorrow. Everybody knows that. If you sit and smoke at the street while police passing, you can be attacked by them. If you try to record riot police, they’ll ask you “press card” and if you don’t have, they can arrest you or crack your camera or hit you. That’s the reality. Events may not seem like middle east but it’s not because of prime minister don’t want to fusillade us. Just because of Turkey has a better culture and it’s hard to disable it in a short time. Just tonight, a stylist of Turkey, Barbaros Sansal talked at a tv channel about police and he arrested within 1 hr. They’re planning to attack harder and harder. We know but we won’t give up. So don’t forget us. Greetings from resistance..

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Stop disinformation please! Barbaros Sansal is not arrested by the police. Why don’t you read the news before posting misleading information? Nobody will attack you unless you attack somebody. You are the ones who want to topple the legitimate government by force and you are the ones who are attacking.

Uppity

“Nobody will attack you unless you attack somebody. You are
the ones who want to topple the legitimate government by force and you
are the ones who are attacking.”

What and old, tired, and perverted argument. Every authoritarian regime on the planet has used these ‘reversal’ arguments.

Are people allowed to kiss on buses btw? Or is there still a risk of a lunatic Erdogan supporter threatening them with a butchers knife?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You do not have to reply all of my comments my friend, because you are really being funny You cannot give any solid proofs to my arguments and just talk like a kid. Who says that you cannot kiss your girlfriend on a public bus? Can’t you? I can actually.

strafish

yes i have seen people getting attacked by the police for no reason. our police forces arent even trained enough to distinguish protesters from innocent people just passing by. many children have been hit by the police with gas canisters. i think u need to stop disinformation!

Recently, a couple was actually kicked out of a bus in Istanbul because they were “f*ck*ng each other”, according to the bus driver. Their sin? They were holding hands and exchanging a kiss.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Don’t you think those type of things were more frequent in the past, before Erdoğan? Since when do you know Turkey? Turkey did not immediately become conservative with Erdoğan. It was a much more conservative country in the past.

Michael_van_der_Galien

According to all research that is simply not true. There are increasingly more women wearing headscarves nowadays, there is more violence used against women, including so-called honor killings, and so on. Turkey was modernizing – in historical perspective quite quickly, actually – when Erdogan et al. came to power. That process has now been halted or even reversed. Note: not economically, but culturally.

A link (not for you, because I realize you don’t actually want to have a conversation about such matters), but for people who are reading along with us:

This information is totally wrong again. In the past these things would not be a public issue but rather kept secret. Now we have laws and regulations for these issues. And people are more educated and conscious about these matters. So whenever they witness such an abuse they go the the police and a case is opened. This was not the case in the past, so the numbers were lower. This is just an illusion.

How can you say that “according to all research that is simply not true” ? Do you know all research on this field. You are wrong again. According to a poll done by well respected Bogazici University and Open Society, conservatism in Turkey is in decline and people give more importance to freedoms than before. Also the economical development is always hand in hand with cultural development. So during Erdoğan period conservatism declined most, in comparison with previous terms.

I cannot see some of my comments, I do not know why. I will write it again.

The information in the links you posted are misleading. Someone who does not know Turkey and the realities of Turkey well, might believe that. But I cannot.

In the past, it was very difficult for those type of abuses to become a public issue, they were kept secret because of the social pressure. Now we are a more open society. Also we have strict laws and regulations. People and especially women are more educated and conscious. When they face any abuse they go to the police and a case is opened immediately. So the official numbers are higher now for that reason. But it is just an illusion.

The international press also was not interested in these issues that much in the past. Now they seem to be interested because bad news about Turkey sell quite well nowadays, for some reason

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

The information in the links you posted are misleading. Someone who does not know Turkey and the realities of Turkey well, might believe that. But I cannot.

In the past, it was very difficult for those type of abuses to become a public issue, they were kept secret because of the social pressure. Now we are a more open society. Also we have strict laws and regulations. People and especially women are more educated and conscious. When they face any abuse they go to the police and a case is opened immediately. So the official numbers are higher now for that reason. But it is just an illusion.

The international press also was not interested in these issues that much in the past. Now they seem to be interested because bad news about Turkey sell quite well nowadays, for some reason

Wanna retract what you just said? this was taken on saturday, showing police men attacking two guys sitting in a restaurant for no reason.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Please read my comments below and watch the video I shared. You have the answers there.

Michael_van_der_Galien

These are quite simple facts. Thanks for sharing that video.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You are not a good journalist Michael, I’m really sorry. This is not journalism. You are talking on speculations rather than facts. Read this please: http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/icki-masasinda-gezi-gozaltisi-/gundem/detay/1745997/default.htm As you can see from the news, the people in Ege’s video were drunk and shouted to the police while the police were passing by as “what are you doing here, don’t be a fascist”. Then the police argued with them and they continued provoking the police. And finally they were taken into custody. This is the true story told by the witnesses and the waiters in the restaurant.

Michael_van_der_Galien

You know what’s so sick about your views? You actually believe that it is a-OK for policemen to harass people whom they think *might* protest, and then when people who may have drunk a bit of alcohol comment on it – which is their right – beating them up and taking them down is perfectly fine. There’s something very wrong with a person who espouses such views. Additionally, when it comes to reports about Gezi Parki, we have discovered that it’s probably best *not* to rely solely on Turkish media, because their owners are in league with the AKP or at least so afraid that they don’t dare criticize Erdogan et al. in any serious manner.

Finally, considering the amount of comments you leave here, it’s perfectly clear that you’re not just *a* reader who happens to come across *an* article.

Next time, I suggest you behave in a slightly less obvious way in comment sections, because the amount of time you spend on them and the passion with which you word your views are clear tell-tale signs of what you’re trying to do.

Finally, your strategy is also counterproductive: You’re too personal and aggressive. From the very start you automatically assume that whomever disagrees with you is ill-intentioned. Interestingly, that’s the exact same strategy used by the AKP’s leaders, such as Prime Minister Erdogan himself.

Just some tips you may want to use next time you decide to hijack a comment section.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Woo, I thought you were not taking me serious, that is what you said in the very beginning. What has changed ? It is obvious who has ill intentions here. You just accuse me with many things but don’t give a single example. But I can understand, because I showed your poor journalism to everyone and you are angry with me

First of all how do you know that they were drunk a bit? You are just making up things again. In the news actually the waiter says that they were quite drunk and they told police that “they are really drunk please ignore them”. The police also did not beat them up, this is a standard procedure for the police. They just laid them on the ground and arrested. I can show you many similar examples of that from many European countries including Netherlands, your homeland.

Saying “don’t trust to Turkish media” does not make sense at all. Am I going to trust foreign journalists who has no idea about what is going on, like you? Don’t be funny Just say something against those news, if you have anything to say. All the information I shared here are correct. I did not share any false information like many others did here including you. But you are not criticizing them but only me.

I am not hijacking anywhere You are not such an important person and this is not such an important website. Why would government deal with you. You guys are really funny I am just a university student who is in holiday now So I have a lot of free time, don’t worry

I am not aggressive at all. You and others are much more aggressive than I am, it is obvious. This is a childish tactic to blame me for no logical reason and try to make me little. I know these tricks very well too.

Just some tips to you from me, next time you search for what you are writing first and do not do manipulation please.

Thanks for the follow-up but you seem to think that it’s normal for police to get into arguments with by-standers and arrest them because of it. It’s not. What exactly is the crime here?

You also seem to have missed the part where the beaten up waiter says the police commented on the drinkers first, saying sth like “They’re drinking alcohol in this holy month. Curse them!”.

I would be ok if this was coming from a regular citizen. It’s an opinion, no biggie. I would argue and defend my rights and that would be it.

But you simply cannot say sth like that in a position of power. You’re there as an appointed officer of the state, a servant to ALL its citizens. The minute you say sth like that, it becomes religious oppression.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Sorry but you still do not want to understand. They were not arrested because of standing there or drinking alcohol. They called the police “fascist” and argued with the police. We do not exactly know what else they said, but it is clear that they were drunk and they probably said more than that. Based on what, do you think the police just arrested them for drinking alcohol? Can you say they would still be arrested if they would not have called the police “fascist” and argued? I’m sure they were not the only people who were drinking there and in the surrounding places. But only they were arrested. I think this explains everything. This is clearly not a drinking issue.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Sorry but you still do not want to understand. They were not arrested because of standing there or drinking alcohol. They called the police “fascist” and argued with the police. We do not exactly know what else they said, but it is clear that they were drunk and they probably said more than that. Based on what, do you think the police just arrested them for drinking alcohol? Can you say they would still be arrested if they would not have called the police “fascist” and argued? I’m sure they were not the only people who were drinking there and in the surrounding places. But only they were arrested. I think this explains everything. This is clearly not a drinking issue.

You simply cannot call police “fascist” and cannot say “what the hell are you doing here” to stop them. According the the law insulting and resisting to the police is a crime. You can make a quick google search.

Sorry but you still do not want to understand. They were not arrested because of standing there or drinking alcohol. They called the police “fascist” and argued with the police. We do not exactly know what else they said, but it is clear that they were drunk and they probably said more than that. Based on what, do you think the police just arrested them for drinking alcohol? Can you say they would still be arrested if they would not have called the police “fascist” and argued? I’m sure they were not the only people who were drinking there and in the surrounding places. But only they were arrested. I think this explains everything. This is clearly not a drinking issue.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Sorry but you still do not want to understand. They were not arrested because of standing there or drinking alcohol. They called the police “fascist” and argued with the police. We do not exactly know what else they said, but it is clear that they were drunk and they probably said more than that. Based on what, do you think the police just arrested them for drinking alcohol? Can you say they would still be arrested if they would not have called the police “fascist” and argued? I’m sure they were not the only people who were drinking there and in the surrounding places. But only they were arrested. I think this explains everything. This is clearly not a drinking issue.

You simply cannot call police “fascist” and cannot say “what are you doing here, go…” to stop them. According the the law insulting and resisting to the police is a crime. You can make a quick google search.

Ege Görgülü

Calling them a fascist and telling them to go away is neither an insult nor a crime. There’s no crime here. If you think that it is, go read up on freedom of speech.

We don’t know the whole story, I’ll give you that. If there’s any actual insult, be my guest and arrest them. But according to the witness accounts that YOU gave link to, police were the first aggressors here, not the customers.

Think of it this way. Your sister is sitting in a cafe wearing a headscarf. A police officer makes a comment about how its not appropriate to wear a headscarf in public. I stand up to defend her right to wear a headscarf and get into an argument. How would you feel?

And how are they even resisting the police? One guy just came behind his back yelled him to get up as he was talking to another officer, and just threw him off his chair without even waiting for a response.

You’re the one who doesn’t understand. Police officers and politicians are not some authority figures that you must follow unquestioningly. They are our servants, and we’re their masters. They exist to serve all of us.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

“Calling them a fascist and telling them to go away is neither an insult nor a crime.” Totally disagree, this cannot be considered as freedom of speech, they are doing their jobs and they are policemen. The law clearly defines it. Calling police fascist is an insult to the police. Also I can tell you “go away from here”. But if I say it to the police who is on duty, this is completely different. So this is clearly something to prevent police doing their job. These are all crime according to the law. You do not have to give an example with a lady with headscarf I can understand you without giving funny examples. Your examples have nothing to do with the situation we are talking, they are quite different as I explained.

We are indeed masters, but the police has to work freely to do their job. You need the police too, don’t you?

Ege Görgülü

You realize that telling someone to go away has no physical effect in real life, right? You do realize that it’s just some air coming out of someone’s mouth, right? You know you can just… ignore it, right?

If not, please explain how some words can prevent our police from doing his job. ( Which btw definitely does not include “make remarks about how un-muslim something is” )

You clearly need some childish, mind-flexing exercises that’s for sure. You’re no different than those old fascists whom you guys always complain about.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I will put you in the middle of Taksim for hours and days to fight against the vandals. They will swear at you, they will provoke you, they will throw stones to you … And someone will come and say “go away from here fascists” I wonder what would you do in that situation. Can you really ignore it? Why would you ignore it?

This is fascism ha You guys are really funny.

I did enough of those exercises in the past Do not worry

Ege Görgülü

I can’t believe I have to say this but being tired & stressed doesn’t magically give you the right to arrest someone for saying “go away”, especially in response to a religiously discriminating statement. That’s the fascism here. And even if there is an insult, nobody deserves to be treated that way.

Don’t get me wrong, all this police violence doesn’t justify throwing stones at them either, but it’s not the protesters who shot a 14 year old boy into a coma while he was going to the store to buy bread. Or killed people for that matter.

Is that enough fascism for you?

Btw, I’m not worried at all. I know who you are and your past exercises. As well as your business endeavors.

But if I didn’t and had to take a guess, I’d say you’re working for one of the social media agencies AKP hired in order to create disinformation. But you are not one of them right? *wink* Right?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Hahaha Look I am a PhD student in one of the best universities in the world, in UK, ok? If you are really curious about my identity send me an email to aykiribakis [attt] aykiribakis.com and I can give all my details to you My identity is not a secret, it is just not public,because there is no need. But if one is really curious, I can definitely share my identity, my facebook and all my identity details. No problem at all. I do not have any single connection with AKP nor my family. My family is also not doing any business or trade, they are retired people.

This is a very sick mentality you guys have. You are pathetic. When you cannot give a logical answer you immediately start accusing people with bullshit.

The fascism is the thing people like you do. Trying to topple an elected legitimate government by force and violence, is pure fascism.

I wrote about the police violence before. After some point these type of incidences are inevitable. There are always people dying in this type of mass demonstrations in the world, sadly. Because the situation very quickly gets out of control from both sides. That is why you should stop protesting in this way. These type of violent protests are killing people in anywhere, including USA, Europe, Brazil … This is not about fascism.

Ege Görgülü

Let me get this straight.

So you think that it’s completely normal that people will get killed at the hands of the police when they use their constitutional right to protest.

And in order to prevent that they should stop protesting in contrast to, you know, police not killing people.

Good luck with that PHd. You are clearly delusional, I suggest you go see a doctor or sth. I will not respond to you anymore.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Same old arguments again and again … Read my comments and see how many times I answered these points.

If you watched the video-documentary I shared, and if you still believe those vandals are using their constitutional rights, I think it is better to stop arguing about this issue too. Because you are blinded and there is no hope for you. Even a doctor cannot help you

heybeli13

yes, barabaros sansal was not arrested. he was simply picked up bu non-uniforms, taken to a village house and told to keep his mouth shut! fat difference!

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

From where did you get this information? Even Barbaros Sansal does not say that. We are even not sure whether he was taken to a village or not, he may be just trying to get attention. Because although he said he was taken to a village, he also said they did not treat him badly and just talked. Also he said he is not going to sue them for this incident. So this looks quite suspicious to me. He is not complaining as much as you complain

justice

If you are not sure, why you do not consider the possibility of he was taken by non-uniforms? Of course he doesn’t complain if he is threaten. Got it?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

He very clearly said that they were not police nor non-uniforms. He also openly said that they treated him nicely and just talked. Also he openly said that he is not going to sue them. There is not even a small proof that we can think he was kidnapped and threatened. He may explain what they talked in the future. Until that time why would I think that he was taken by non-uniforms and threatened? Got it?

justice

Of course he says they were not police if he was kidnapped by them. If you say it’s more logical that he wants to be a hero, than you have to proof or you better stop commenting for someone’s intention which you are not able to know.
Also why you don’t consider the other possibility of he was kidnapped and threatened ? You should know that people give more chance to this , because they do not trust at all to government. During protests the Governor did promised that there will be no police attack to activists at the park and next day police received order to attack at innocent people by gas and plastic bullet weapons. So people consider all the possibilities and afraid and expect any kind of dirty games from government.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Ok you keep thinking what you want to think. This is your problem. You guys always distort the truth and talk on imaginary things rather than facts. But Barbaros Sansal is not thinking like you He says “they very friendly and just talked with me”

This is one of the most funny videos i have ever watched. A simple propaganda of government. You are working for them. But the most funny part is ‘In May Turkey lives the most shining May of whole republican era”
Just some days ago tens of people killed by a bomb attack at border village of Syria, people had been worrying and no media allowed to publish any news about this matter.
“Country pays its debt to IMF” which was around 20 billion usd. But it’s not mentioned that during this goverment the debts of the country are increased nearly 3 times more than 10years ago, from 100 billion dollars to over 300 billion dollars.
Sorry this was enough i could take. I can’t watch more due to laughing. You are really something funny, trying desperately to cheat people with full of untrue information :)) Maybe you made yourself to believe in all these and living in another planet ?! You should better review your thoughts and revise them as if necessary.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I should thank you for raising all these standard stupid opposition arguments, so that I can give an answer

The video does not say nothing bad happened in May, it just says “the most shining May”. If you see the positive things happened during that month in the video you will understand what they wanted to mean. Also it was a well organized terrorist attack by Assad to Turkey to start an Alevi-Sunni sectarian war. The situation was very fragile and tense. The government did not ban the news about that issue, you even do not know that properly. They just banned live streams, videos and photos from the area where the incident was happened. Because right after the incident some media organs published ridiculous photos and videos that can easily provocate people and cause an Alevi-Sunni war. So this was for all of us’s good, not for the government. But people like you cannot get this fact. This type of censorship can be seen in many other developed countries after this type of fragile issues for the sake of the society.

Regarding the debt issue I would recommend you to read some Economics 101 book. You even do not have a basic knowledge on economics. The amount of debt is never important, the important thing is the ability to pay it back. And it is measured by debt/GDP ratio. If you read this http://www.aykiribakis.com/post/55528779852/ekonomide-dogru-bilinen-yanlislar you will get it better. In summary before Erdoğan his ratio was %74 and now it dropped to the level of %35. We are even in a better situation than US, UK, Germany … in terms of debt/GDP ratio.

I am not working for anybody, stop being stupid. Why would I have to work for someone? Don’t forget AKP got %50 of the votes in the last elections. There are many people like me around. But they usually do not spend time for people like you. You should be thankful to me for that reason

Justice

Ti message show how fascist you are. Because like every fascist you think. The way think is perfect and you deny any thing against your own opinion. No empathy of what I am saying. Let’s start from end:
Please check the ratio in 2002 and tell me.

Or I tell you it to you ? It was around 25% and now 36%

GDP: purchasing power parity – $468 billion (2002 est.)
Debt : $118.3 billion (September 2001 )
Although there was aim of global economy was growing up to the global crisis and Turkey was just get over a economical crisis in 2001 and started a reform at the bank system, this time used to make people consume money by getting debt and decrease their saving (ratio to GDP 12%) and construction sector pushed instead of production. Go to farmers and industry sector and ask them. Then indeed or account deficit increased a lot in order to increase the growth rate. Today the sea has finished. People are with full of debt, un-employment rate is still around 10%. Although unstable consuming, the last 5 years average of GDP is around 2%, one of the lowest comparing the developing countries.
It’s getting worse but this is not our case, the case is democracy. Election by itself is not democracy. If so, then Iran and Syria is a democratic country as well.
People do not think it’s the most shining May. Opposite people think, they are not able to stop the murder of nature, transparency at justice, governing, no respect minorities requirements, full control over central media and no possibility to receive objective info, even you can’t control over what government is doing, if you do you receive harsh words. From Syria border, there is no control, everybody is passing. people do not feel safe and angry to government policy. Because they indeed think government is elected to protect its people and maintain a safest condition. People want from government to improve the democracy of the country first and give priority to its people not the other countries by putting his citizen into risk. If you risk you people to do something at another country, this becomes a mortal mistake. People are getting killed by bullets coming from Syria and nothing done by government successfully.
These are all facts even you deny as usual. Because you are here to write only things to defend AKP and their mistakes.
You keep writing here o there to everybody in a derisive mood to do your job but be sure that nobody take care for what you say. nobody is as stupid as your brain thinks or as shaped.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I respect every opinion which are respected and worth to listen. But if people like you, talk about things without knowing even the very basic things and attack to me, I use a different tone, a tone which people like you deserve.

The things you said are all imaginary. Those are again wishful thinking. You want Turkish economy to sink, so that people would vote for CHP Sorry, my friend, this is not the case. I can show you the data that you are wrong but there is no need, you will not understand anyways. If you are right, why do you think all of the independent international ranking organizations like S&P, Moodys, Fitch … increased the rating of Turkey constantly since 2002? You guys are really totally blind. That is why you get shocked after each and every single election and start calling AKP supporters stupid. Because you cannot understand.

We are not talking about elections here, we are talking about democratic elections. How can you compare elections in Turkey with the elections in Syria and Iran? I think I should stop arguing with you after this. Because you have no idea about anything. There are about 30 political parties attending the elections in Turkey and the elections are totally transparent and free. How can you compare Turkey with dictatorship regimes and single party systems? A free election is indeed democracy, your argument is nonsense.

Regarding the Syria issue, there are things beyond our capabilities and limits. What would you do to stop the bullets coming from the Syrian border? We did not start the war in Syria. We did not kill thousands of innocent people. We did not force them to come to Turkey. You are blaming the government for that reason, this is a shame. You are on the side of brutal Assad regime. You call Erdoğan fascist and dictator, but you have no problem with Assad. Shame on you!

justice

1. Take a look at factbook CIA for 2002 and 2012 for the rates. It’ also logic that If debt increase 3 times, your GDP has to increase 3 times to keep the same rate. Was there any such improvement. Of course I want Turkey has better economy, but I want to point out that we increased our economy by consuming only, not by producing, this is not healthy. We are now stacked between budget and negative deficit account.
2. I don’t vote for CHP. You cannot talk the way you think and wish and blame people. I do not support dictator Syria regime and I do not say Erdogan is dictator. Turkey’s culture doesn’t allow to have dictators and will never allow. I point out the mistakes I have seen of government which you do not have any need to create empathy on that so far. How nice!
3. The priority is we do not kill our innocent people first. And after that we can take a look at other countries. But you will not accept it and keep saying protestors were not innocent a usual indeed.
4. 10% barrier is not free elections. And said democratic elections is also not enough If you do not respect the minorities necessities.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You are still not giving me sources and numbers. I look at CIA factbook, but do not see the things you say. The debt/GDP ratio decreased substantially. Period. Show me that it did not. Everybody knows that, this is something you can find in everywhere on internet.

You are the same person with some of the other commentors here. You change your username and comment with different names. And yes, you are voting for CHP and you called Erdoğan fascist dictator in your previous comments (not with this username but with another one)

You say that you point out the mistakes of the government, but the things you are trying to show as mistakes are not mistakes, that is what I have shown you, but you still do not want to see.

I never say the government does not have any mistakes. For example I criticize the government for the Alevi rights and for some other reforms that they have not done yet. But these things are not the things you guys have been mentioning. You are not seeing the real problems and instead blaming the government with false arguments. Also there is no better alternative to Erdoğan, if you are not voting for him, you should be able to show me an alternative. But there is no logical alternative, that’s the problem.

Yes you should not kill innocent people but those innocent people also should stay as innocent and should stop the violent protests. The protesters are also responsible for the deaths.

I mentioned about the %10 election barrier issue before, so I do not want to repeat it. It is not an issue now. All of the parties who got above %5 are represented in the parliament currently. %94 of the voters are represented in the parliament which is a greater number than many European countries.

If you want to criticize the government, do it, but please do it in a constructive way. Showing false arguments as truth and provoking people does not help us at all.

Michael_van_der_Galien

Latest development: deputy chairman of the AKP says that Gezi protesters may very well be sentenced to live in prison.

And he has the support of Obama. It says something ver troubling about this president.

Michael_van_der_Galien

Note that Obama is also supporting Morsi. It’s very clear that he wants to create a different Middle-East than you and me.

Pitansarama

Morsi has stolen the revolution from the public; when the public reacted again, just to prevent a secular free society, Army stole the revolution that time. Otherwise, Morsi or Sisi not very different from the ex-regime…

Erdogan as small men, who don’t understand a bit out side of their little Islamist book what he is talking about… he ignore what democracy is; he can not find a shred, a possibility of understanding; this man has no idea how smells the air free living behind the wall of his totalitarian pulses.

This poor man has no idea, as our troubled, confused president…

Petra Holzer

dear Michael – please note that the protests are far from over – only the violent interventions of the police are less frequent (not on a daily basis – just every other day). Keep up reporting on all the peaceful civil obedience event going on every night in parks not only all over Istanbul and Ankara but in many cities in Turkey.

Michael_van_der_Galien

Petra: true. I intend to visit Istanbul again this month, to go to the protests there and to Ankara (I’m Izmir-based).

LosMagandos1907

The new CHP Is Corrupt ?? What the Hell does that make AKP ?? A little more research into the CHP of the last few years wouldnt have gone amiss in this article, some of their youthful MP’s are causing quite a stir – Muharrem Ince. Emine Tarhan and thats in a good way etc…

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Dear Michael

I thought for a while whether I should write a response to you or not, whether it is worth it or not. Because after reading your articles and your comments, I’m sure my words will not help you. Because I see people like you a lot these days, and I know that I cannot change your opinion. But in the end I decided to write anyways.

First of all I’m sorry to say that your opinions are for from being objective and highly biased. I cannot know your intentions, but if you are sincere in your journalism you should learn to look at the issues from all sides and get the opinions from all parties. I see that you are living in Izmir. I know Izmir very well, but if you want to learn the realities of Turkey you should learn to look at Turkey from outside of İzmir too. You should have diversified friends other than just the Kemalist-Fascist people. I see that your ideas are one-to-one compatible with this Kemalist mindset and this is due to the environment that you live in and the sources that you are fed probably.

Let me start with the freedom of press issue. First of all as in any other country on the planet Earth, Turkey has issues with press freedom. But is it really that bad as you and many others try to prove nowadays? It is good that you read Yavuz Baydar’s article http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/21/opinion/sunday/in-turkey-media-bosses-are-undermining-democracy.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 . But it is interesting, after reading that article you are still blaming just the government for the press freedom issue. As Baydar mentioned in his article, the problem is very much related with the Turkish media itself. Turkish media has been owned by big business moguls since ages. This is not something new. These bosses owned the media outlets to secure their financial interests in other areas like banking, construction businesses, big government projects … Their last purpose was to do journalism. In the past, they often threatened the governments with fake news and articles to get privileges in these businesses and they usually succeeded. Because the governments were weak coalition governments and they needed the support of the press to survive. So at those times the press was free, but freer than it should be probably. But I should also make it clear that the press was only this much free against the governments. They were not able to do anything against the will of the army. Army generals often had meetings with the editors of these media organs and gave them orders what to do. Nobody even thought about saying anything about this corrupted system at those times. Now the situation has changed. These media organs tried to do as much as they can to prevent Erdoğan being the PM in the beginning. You can check the headlines of the Turkish newspapers before 2002 elections. But they could not succeed. Erdoğan did so well in economy, health sector, agriculture, infrastructure … that people supported him more and more after each and every election. He increased his votes constantly starting from %37 to %50 in 3 elections. So Erdoğan is powerful now. But he gets the power from the people, not from anywhere else. Because of his power the media bosses know that he is not going anywhere soon and the roles have changed. These bosses cannot put pressure on Erdoğan instead they feel the pressure to deal with him nicely so that they can survive in their other businesses. So Erdogan does not call these bosses and tell them to fire these journalists as you think, these bosses fire these journalist as a result of their own self censorship. They think these journalists can create trouble for their financial interests. So as one can easily see, the media sector in Turkey itself is corrupted. But the funny thing is nobody is really criticizing this issue and the journalists are choosing the easier way and just blaming the government for the press freedom issue after they are fired.

Another reason why some of these journalists cannot find a place in some of the mainstream media outlets is their lack of objectivism. We should not forget that at least %50 of the people are supporting Erdoğan in Turkey, still. Out of the remaining %50, about %20 can still vote for Erdoğan and has no hatred about him. I would say there is only about max %30 that would never vote for Erdoğan and really hate him and totally biased about him. So if one wants to write in the mainstream media in Turkey today, they should consider this too. One cannot write totally biased articles and address %30 while ignoring %50 to %70 in his/her articles in the mainstream media. You can do it in another media organ but not one of the mainstream outlets. This is totally a commercial decision rather than a political one. Because most of the time when a journalist/writer loses objectivism the media organ receives a huge reaction from its own reader base. No one wants to lose their readers right? So this is totally logical from that sense. The sad thing is some of the journalists who were fired in the last months in Turkey, had totally lost their objectivism and became defenders of an ideology. Again, this might be accepted in some of the media organs but not in a mainstream one.

That being said, although the situation in mainstream media is like this, there are still many media organs which are highly critical of Erdoğan and his party and nobody has been fired from these places. For example Sözcü newspaper is the 3rd most selling newspaper in Turkey now and a very well known defender of Kemalism. They almost swear Erdoğan every day in the news and articles they publish. There are newspapers like Taraf, Ortadoğu, Radikal, Aydınlık, Cumhuriyet, Sol, Birgün, Evrensel … Some of them are in top selling 10. They all represent different opinions from liberal left to Kemalism and nationalism to Socialism. So no one can really say Turkish press is being silenced and cannot criticize the government. It is just a matter of how you write and where you write. Every newspaper have their own policies in the world and if your ideas are not compatible with the ideas of the newspaper you should find a new home. There is nothing interesting here. This is the same in everywhere not only in Turkey. The media organs I mentioned previously are completely free and write whatever they want to write. The government has no control over them. Other than these media organs we should also not forget the internet and the internet media. You can reach to anything you want over internet. Many of the opposition media websites have been visited 100.000-millions of times every day. After all, trying to show that there is no press freedom in Turkey is being funny and populist. We have issues but who does not? I can say that today Turkish media is not worse than American media. At least people have many options and alternatives.

Now lets come to the other issue, “arrested journalists”. This is probably one of the best examples of bad journalism ever. I cannot believe how such a huge lie/disinformation became such a big deal and still no one is questioning its validity and instead choose to write interesting looking articles about it and earn money out of it. It is clear and simple: “there aren’t so much journalists in prison in Turkey”. This information is totally wrong. In 2011 CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists) published a report claiming that there are 8 journalists in prison in Turkey. There was a huge reaction to this report from some of the Turkish press associations which are mainly leftist-socialist and positioned themselves against the government since the very beginning. They somehow succeeded to create a pressure on CPJ and CPJ had to change this number from 8 to 61 in a very short time.

After this, everybody started to cite this number and started to write ridiculous things like you did in your article (sorry!), such as comparing Turkey with Iran, Afghanistan, China, Iraq … Ok I agree, when you write in this way it looks interesting, but hey man, you are just being funny, please, don’t do that. Currently the number of journalists in prison is less than 8 because some of the journalists who were imprisoned at that time are released such as Nedim Şener and Ahmet Şık. The government repeatedly declared that they prefer those journalists to be released pending trial. So where does those huge imprisoned journalist numbers come from? As I mentioned earlier the press unions in Turkey are highly politicized and hate the government for obvious reasons. They are socialists and the government is conservative capitalist. By the way although Akparti (ruling party) is defined as conservative they are still the most liberal ones, yes, Turkish politics is complicated. Most of the unions in Turkey are leftist-socialist and against the government. You might ask “What is wrong with that?”. Nothing, for me that is totally fine. The problem is not these unions themselves, the problem is considering them as objective and trusting their reports and data. If you check their numbers carefully you will see that they include people who have nothing to do with journalism. Some of them robbed a bank, some involved in a murder, some made terrorism propaganda … None of them are recognized as journalists and they do not have press cards. So how do they become journalists and found themselves a place in this list. What makes one journalist? What makes me not a journalist? Although they were not officially journalists they were working in some of the newspapers and most of these newspapers are affiliated with PKK (Kurdish separatist terrorist organization, recognized as terrorist organization by USA, EU and many others) Many of them involved in terrorist activities and there are solid proofs and phone conversations taped by the police. Also we should not forget that there is no reason for the government to imprison Kurdish journalists for nothing because this is the only government who is trying to solve the Kurdish issue peacefully and democratically. Actually the government is often criticized by the opposition parties for “collaborating with the terrorists and dividing the country”. This issue cannot be related with press freedom or freedom of speech because Kurds are much freer under the rule of the current government than they used to be. Any Kurd can confirm this. While most of the people are in prison because of their affiliations with PKK, it has no base to say “the government imprisoned this much people to silence them and to control the media”. So why are these press unions in Turkey who are supporting the opposition and indirectly undermining the democratic peace process with Kurds are using these numbers against the government? So they are supporting the opposition and the opposition is against the freedom of Kurds. But these so called journalists are fighting for Kurdish freedom. These unions are supporting them and giving false information to the world to create pressure on the government at the same time. How? I know, I told you that Turkish politics is complicated. When it comes to politics the opposition or the unions in Turkey can collaborate even with their own enemies against the government. That’s one of the reasons why they cannot win the elections. People see them, and people are not stupid.

I wrote an article on Economy and Democracy relationship in Turkish http://www.aykiribakis.com/post/53925531341/ekonomi-demokrasi-iliskisi . In summary I claim that if a country has no oil and natural gas (in general not rich in natural resources) just like Turkey, and if the economy is dependent on production and services just like Turkey, the democracy has to be improved for economical development. I included the data in the article to prove my fact. There is no single example of such a country who is going backwards in terms of democracy but still doing good in economy. So if you consider Turkey’s economical development in the last 10-11 years (GDP tripled) “democracy in Turkey is in danger” argument is meaningless. Turkey’s problem is not the government, the problem is the opposition. If one is concerned about Turkish democracy I would recommend them to start criticizing the opposition first.

Finally I can tell you one thing. I know the past of Turkey and the current situation. Although we still have issues to be addressed we are in a much better situation in general than 10 years ago, don’t worry.

Michael_van_der_Galien

“You should have diversified friends other than just the Kemalist-Fascist people.”

Right. Somehow, that does not exactly make me want to take you seriously. Thanks for the response though.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

What is wrong with that sentence? Read what is Kemalism and what have Kemalists done to Turkey and the people of Turkey in the past (I do not say Ataturk himself, I say Kemalists, they are different). You will probably take me more serious then.

You are not Turkish, so you have no reason to be a Kemalist. But as I mentioned earlier your opinions are one-to-one compatible with Kemalists. This leaves one option to me, you have Kemalist people around you in Turkey, and you are being fed with wrong opinions. This is not the way a journalist should follow.

Your response also showed me that I should not have taken you serious. Althogh I knew that in the very beginning and told you in my text. I knew that my words will not help you.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

If you call Erdogan authoritarian or fascist(which is totally wrong), you should know that Kemalists are many times more fascist than Erdoğan. Read what they have done to Kurds, Armenians, Greeks and conservative muslims in the past, if you have not done so.

baran

the only difference between hitler and erdoğan is that hitler just kills you and ends your misery while erdoğan makes you suffer. before all these revolutionary demonstrations, i was thinking about leaving Turkey. but now i have courage. i won’t leave it. i will fight for it like my ancestors. and i hope we will see erdoğan running away with his feet kicking his arse.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

If you call Erdogan authoritarian or fascist(which is totally wrong), you should know that Kemalists are many times more fascist than Erdoğan. But they are being shown as alternative to Erdogan, this is just hilarious. Please read what they did to Kurds, Armenians, Greeks and conservative muslims in the past, if you have not done so.

H.M.A.

You seem to have a lot of knowledge. could you please explain to me the 10% “baraj” and how that effected RTE’s “50%”
And what about the accusations of voter fraud and buying votes?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

%10 election barrier did not affected Erdoğan’s %50 election win at all. Currently %94 of the voters are represented in the parliament which is a greater number than many European countries. This barrier was put to prevent Kurdish parties entering the parliament and it was put long before Erdoğan. But as we know in the last elections Kurdish candidates elected as individual MPs and formed their group in the parliament afterwards. So they entered to the parliament too. %94 is the highest representation in Turkish parliament since ages. So even if the barrier would have been %5 (which is the case in many European countries) nothing would have changed. So this argument has no base currently.

Regarding the voting fraud issues I can only say that this is another thing which the desperate opposition tries to cloud people’s minds and hopes something could happen as a result of this provocation. Tarhan Erdem, an ex opposion (CHP) MP wrote a great article on this issue. http://www.radikal.com.tr/yazarlar/tarhan_erdem/temiz_secim_platformu_amac_nedir-1144356 In summary he proves with data that these accusations have no base and the thing the opposition tries to do is dangerous. There are many things that we can criticize in Turkish democracy, but elections are probably the best working element of the Turkish democracy. The elections are quite transparent and if people have an objection, they should go to court instead of creating false propaganda material and provocating others. So far no one went to court instead of talking with nonsense arguments.

Pitansarama

You are absolutely wrong about representation. Less then 40% percent of the people who has the right to vote represented in Parliament due to barrier and the algorithm of the Secsis computer.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

If I am wrong show me that I am wrong. I am talking with numbers.

TS

This is the final result of the elections including the barrier and the algorithm of the Secsis computer. Also many voting papers are found on the garbage boxes. This Secsis computer system are totally not trustworthy. Check out Germany and Greece. You should know about it. If you think Turkey go forward to a better democracy, than i have to say YOU are not talking about facts! why the demonstrations rights are blocked, there was a hibrit democracy 10 years ago (not a real democracy and we all were complaining) , it was not brilliant and now it’s worse. Which country is at number one position in the world of putting the journalist to the jails? Law makers and court members were started to be placed by government after the famous referendum. Go to streets and ask people if they afraid and worry or not, about feeling safe to be against and being opposition to government actions. Ask to journalist. People’s memory are better than you expect. All the things shown as improvement you mentioned above were not sincere and for people’s benefit, it’s all about government benefit. And if you take a look carefully, you will see at non of them you mentioned at the country got a good result. If Kurdish people act as opposition, they still go to prison, look at KCK cases. Look at EU last reports about Turkey (maybe then you can stop manipulate that EU reforms are done in Turkey), Now everybody knows and it’s clear that there is no sincerity at all, everything was for having better ground for their backs, no respect at oppositions, no respect to environment, no respect to individuals rights (no improvement at all) .
One minister can give a speech and says, people who attended at demonstration can be sentenced and judged with life time prison penalty. Who are you? A Judge? How can you give speech to media on this, trying to manipulate the law and scare innocent people and public? Is this his job to give such a speech? Or PM’s job o do so?
Last but not least, you say it depends on which newspaper you write. Where the free journalists should write then? At the ones who are arrested and sent to jails? What happened to central media then? Why are they fired? Any excuse from your side?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You are not reading my previous posts and repeating the same false arguments again and again. Please read my first long post in the beginning of this thread, and then this discussion would be more logical since I would not have to repeat myself again and again.

TS

I read them and i see that you are trying to take the topic ( which is about Erdogan’s actions against protesters to other areas. (we can discuss it at another time) The topic is clear and you have no comment on that. What do you think about killing 5 innocent people at the peaceful protests and thousands are injured?

You are still referring to news of media who are under control of government. You are like a joke? You believe in these theaters?
I am talking on facts! and asking who you think give order to police? Any idea?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

why are you focusing on the sourse, sorry but this is really stupid. Why don’t you just say something about the things Prof. Halil Berktay who is a prominent leftist said about the protestors?

lokus

so what, its one guys’ opinion…i m telling to go out and speak to people on the streets…i have 2 Phds too…doesnt make me smarter or more right. and you re calling people to stop protesting…what kind of mentality is that? im not happy i ll protest. it s my unbreakable right. i mean it was since we cant do that anymore…oh wait what were you saying…turkey is a democracy. right?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

so what, this is just your opinion

lokus

thats exactly what im saying..just my opinion. just like you, apparently, enjoy living in a controlled system..some people like being dominated…i cant only argue about it with you. if this is what you like. fair enough.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I know how a real controlled system looks like from 10 years ago, don’t worry. I lived that period. So I know what you miss by saying the country is going backwards and becoming worse. You guys are just repeating yourselves, I’m sorry you have no hope. Because people like me will definitely defend democracy and free elections in Turkey. But you might cause a civil war, be careful. There are people looking for it.

lokus

look i dont see what part you still dont get but elections arent free in turkey buddy…just a basic example: my uncle checked all the electors in our building since it belongs to us…they were 5 people register in my grandma’s flat…we do not know these people and they dont even exist…and they vote? seriously? unfortunately we dont have a choice with this elective system. there s no opposition to this government. i cannot see whom i could vote for in the next election. definitely not chp or mhp. but dont tell me its free…

lokus

and ten years ago it was a joke…everything was corrupted but we were a lot more free…i dont know how old you are but i was in my very early teenage years in the 80s…during kenan evren…and the only difference between those times in a matter of fascism is that we had the death penalty. now you just rot in prison cells.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Good, keep staying in your small world. But Turkey is much bigger than your small world. Tell me what you cannot do now that you were able to do 10 years ago.

lokus

you re the one living in a small world. you have no personal opinion whatsoever. you just protect corrupted people…i havent voted for anyone nor am i protecting a political view…im just standing up for my basic rights…if you know what that means. and going to court? seriously? every single judge and prosecutor are in the hands of the ruling party…at least dont deny that for gods sake.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Every single court? rumors again. You are spending so much time on facebook. Read serious stuff. Do you know how many judges-presecutors were oppointed during Erdoğan period? About 1500. Do you know how many we have in total in Turkey? About 11 000. So about %10 of the judges were appointed in the last 11 years. How can you say all the courts are controlled by the government? This mentality is very dangerous. They made you feel hopeless, so that they can use you in fight. Be careful.

lokus

my grandpa was a judge so he knows from colleagues that still work. they re either intimidated or sent on early retirement. they get memos before judgements to lean against this or that side…my grandpa is either lying to me or you re just a guy that sits down and read numbers which you believe are true. you should be careful.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Nobody can send anyone to early retirement unless they want to. Your grandpa is probably like you, a Kemalist who is totally biased. I know old judge grandpas and their mentality Give me numbers

TS

Very arrogant behavior. You are putting people to a level down and you are the guy who think wise. Well done Mr. Government voice!! Don’t be sure whose world is small, then you may make a big mistake

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Man, I know that you are the same person with some of the other commentors here. You responded with another name to your own comment thread and then deleted. Please stop that It looks really funny. I am not the government’s voice, but what about you?

Trollbrainbasher

puppet show of political leaders? would you dare to make a puppet show using mr. erdogan’s puppet and make political black humor? have you ever heard the sentence “how can someone use such a rude language against prime minister” in a democracy? as if they were addressing the god almighty and not the person who claims to be a “servant of turkish citizens”.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

They do similar things all the time in opposition TV channels. They actually do worse than that in Ulusal Kanal, Halk TV … Don’t tell me that you even do not read comics like Leman in Turkey. In which planet are you living?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You guys are so desperate. But buddy, you cannot lie this easily. Go to court and prove. Don’t cry. Why not any political party is complaining for that? Why don’t they go the the court?

TS

You are here for the name of government, continuously commenting for their defense. Well, thanks i don’t get it.
Do your job but you will fail, be sure about it.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You are here for the name of the opposition party CHP then You do your job too, but as everybody can see, my points are valid. Not like yours…

Surmenesakini

totally agree lokus. People are being kidnapped from their place and threathened just because they are opponents of Erdogan. A child was shot from head yesterday just because passing by istiklal street. Erdogan not only selling all wealthy sources of Turkey especially in Istanbul and many more but also killing innocent people. Anyone who calls such a country ” a democratic” one either totally lost his mind or his faith his humanity.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Sources? You are just misleading people. These are all facebook rumors.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

so what, this is just your opinion

TS

Look! I haven’t read one article at ODA TV yet. But i shall read it as well as others. Your all the time assuming me that i am as you imagine is bothering me. Don’t classify and blame people, first of all please stop doing this, this is a fascist way actually. If you continue his way i do not write to you anymore.
I don’t agree with the authors observations, because have observed it by myself clearly somethings that the most peaceful people were at the park. I am sure. Were you there and can you give your own thoughts on it instead of media news?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I did not classify you, I just said you cannot find this type of news on Oda.tv. What is wrong with that? You also cannot find this type of news on Cumhuriyet, Bianet, Evrensel, Radikal, Sözcü … Shall I count more. It was just an example. It is valid for all opposition websites and press. You have to read haber7 too, to see the truth. Because all of them are wrong and right sometimes. You should read all, and then judge yourself. That is what I do at least.

TS

You are classifying me. You are assuming i am reading this and this news but not reading this or this. What is this? Do you know me or what? You still assuming me with that i don’t follow government sided media.

I was thinking that we could explain our personal thoughts to eachother on the subject. But you go ahead with you guys, you guys. How do we discuss if you not get rid of putting me into the shape you create at your mind?

TS

If someone is killed, there must be a murderer and/or the one who order for murdering. It’s so simple. Who kills the people by beating and using guns?
You see, This is our real problem. Don’t look for the results far away at other countries and conspiracy theories.
First we have to clean our home. We have to lear to live in peace and democracy.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Can we call the soldiers who are fighting aganist terrorist PKK as muderers? Not every murder is a simple murder. You should see the dynamics.

TS

We are not talking about a combat fight arm and terrorists with guns.
It’s simple, it’s a law problem, human rights problem. Don’t be blind. Where are we living in a civil areas.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Yes PKK also comes to the civil areas quite often. What I mean is that protesters are also not so innocent. And as I mentioned in one of my other comments in these big protests things get out of control inevitably. There are stupid policemen just like there are stupid protesters. If you bring them together, they provoke and kill each other. Sometimes unintentionally, sometimes intentionally. Simple as that.

lokus

so based on that we should stop protesting. nice one. nice one.

TS

Yes we stop protesting and elected minister do whatever he likes, destroy the minorities right, nature, etc.. same like China , Iran and Syria. Great!

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You are not reading my comments or you have other mental problems.

TS

You want to believe so aykiribakis. Don’t forget that protestors do not have any gun.
They do not drink at the mosques

Failure of this is due to poor management of goverment and unti-democratic speeches of pm and governors.

There might be provocateurs from anywhere including government.
So what, people do not use their protesting rights?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

No, they will protest appropriately, just as before. There were protests in Taksim and on İstiklal since I know myself. Whenever you go to İstiklal there were always protests anytime. And there was no problem with that at all. So this issue is not a protest rights issue. We all know that. There is no logical reason for that much people to protest currently. It is obvious that this is an attempt to topple the elected government. If you want to protest, you can always protest anything in Turkey, but appropriately. If you want to shut down the main roads for days and create anarchy, no government would allow that to happen. Try to shut down a square or a major road in any developed country for days and see what will happen.

TS

So why in Gezi park as it was allowed but at the end, police attacked people sleeping at night? Governor was promised that there will be no police attack, As If it’s peaceful you can make protest anywhere but yesterday even media announcement was blocked as well. Man protests were not illegal up to point government got crazy and take people as idiot and rubbish. Was there condition to attempt to ill people?
I am leaving as i understood you do repeat the same. I wish you focus on the wrongs the government did. But as i can guess from all, you are soldier here for manipulation the truth and defend government. Sorry!

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You guys are always the same. You are not open to new ideas and different minds. This is how you used to treat people before Erdoğan in Turkey. But you should get used to it. Things have changed. There are different opinions in everywhere. And you should respect. I am not a soldier of anybody or any organization. If I am a soldier what are you then? What makes me soldier and what makes you not? We are just arguing on a topic and I give my own opinions based on facts. But when you guys do not have an answer you start accusing people, very typical.

I told you if you want to protest something, you should do it appropriately. Once you start to create anarchy and terror the government has right to stop you, very simple. The government is not treating anybody as idiot, you feel like that. Because this imaginary image is created very professionally with social engineering by the opposition. They made you feel like that. It is an imposed idea not the truth.

Trollbrainbasher

1st of may, rings any bells? emek movie theater? yeah there was no trouble at all is there a bound to your lies and deception? i guess failing to mention taksim square was already closed to traffic serves your purpose well enough ^^

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Taksim was not closed to traffic, only one side was closed. Sıraselviler and the road to Taksim was open. You even do not know basic things. We really cannot argue like this. I feel I’m spending my time for nothing.

Trollbrainbasher

i guess you played the three wise monkeys while events on that day were discussed. it’s widely believed that it was a failed public display of turkish police and media

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

What would make you believe that they were really protestors? You always find excuses. One of them burned himself and some of them are in prison now. You come and say they are police. We cannot argue like this. You always believe what you want to believe. The truth is different though.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e72LkfOgLCg these vandals are not protestors, they are all police spies ha Do you know how funny you are? You really should spend less time on facebook and read more serious news.

This is not news This is an opinion article He wrote things just like you wrote I can find you many opposite opinion articles from intentional media. That does not change anything. We are writing our comments under another opinion article, right? You probably forget, this is not a forum website but a news website And I explained my opinions and tried to show that the writer of the above article is wrong. Opinion article and news are different. People like you have a long way to go. Improve yourself. Read logic and philosophy books. You do not know how to think, sad but true.

Trollbrainbasher

hehe tell me about dynamics of the murders police committed during the gezi protests. he asked you a simple question you brought up soldiers and terrorists

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Look TS, it is obvious that you do not read haber7 or any other so called government sided media. This is what you said:

“You are still referring to news of media who are under control of government. You are like a joke? You believe in these theaters? ”

How can I expect you to read from every news sources and be objective after this comment. You classify yourself not me.

TS

I read and decide. If i don’t read these controlled media, how can i have idea? It’s 100% certain to me, no one journalist can live at these media by writing something against PM. Don’t you see we are number one in the world that journalist are prisoned so many. Worse than China, Iran. Isn’t a a proof enough to you? Or you still push your mind to believe on this theater. Don’t you have any suspects on it?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Now I’m sure that you are not reading my comments or you do not understand, or you do not want to understand. I wrote in the very beginning. The press is FREE. It is just a matter of in which newspaper you write. There are many free newspapers and there are newspapers which are close to the government, just in any other country. How do journalists write in Sozcu, Cumhuriyet, Taraf, Ortadoğu, Evrensel, Radikal, Aydınlık, Sol … You are totally misleading. I was thinking you are not reading government sided media, but now I start to think you even do not read opposition newspapers. What do you read? Please tell me

I also wrote in my first comment that those imprisoned journalist numbers are completely wrong. I do not want to repeat them again. Read my first long comment please.

lokus

tell me how would you know which one is right or wrong?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

When you read them, it becomes obvious which is right or wrong. We call it “common sense”. If you do not have common sense, there is nothing I can do for you.

lokus

wow you re like a jedi then…sixth sense and shit…we need more people like you to make the earth a better place.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Indeed

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I am reading almost anything I find from all sources. What do you expect? Of course you will not see this on Oda.Tv. I recommend you to do the same

freedom for all

hahahah haber7…seriously…dude i strongly recommend you NOT to read ANY newpapers in turkey…we are the media now…there are no more medias in turkey…just a handful of objective journalists…

TS

Yes, yes. Anything else you forget? Numbers do not lie.
Total voters at last election is 40 million. AKP received just over 10 million. It makes 25 % approximately, only. And even though he could received more, it does not give right to anybody in any condition to lie everybody and press over democratic units of the country.
RTE is elected to do the job of prime ministry not to control the media and manipulate the facts and do anything he can to protect his authority. This is not stated at his duty descriptions.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You should read more. http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalet_ve_Kalk%C4%B1nma_Partisi Erdoğan got 21.5 million votes in the last elections. We all know that Turkey is a much more democratic place than it used to be 10 years ago. I talked about the press issue in one of my comments. You are not talking with facts.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You should read more. http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adalet_ve_Kalk%C4%B1nma_Partisi Erdoğan got 21.5 million votes in the last elections. We all know that Turkey is a much more democratic place than it used to be 11 years ago, before Erdoğan. I talked about the press issue in one of my previous comments. The press is still free, it is just a matter of in which newspaper you write. Also the democracy is not just about being able to buy alcohol from supermarkets after 22:00. It is about Kurdish rights, it is about army-government relations, it is about basic human rights, it is about EU reforms, it is about minority rights … And Turkey proceeded quite well in all these areas in the last 11 years. You are not talking with facts.

This debating process is good, and i wouldnt like to go into the particularities at the moment, i would just like to point out the fact of the non-turkish citizens being involved to what extent, and at what point in time in the Turk matters. I am from Macedonia myself, but living through a collapse of Yugoslavia, and what happened afterwards i cannot help but wonder. I know many are just thrill seekers, or got cought up in the moment, but is it all that innocent?

TS

Does it still makes sense to you? 5 people are killed, 8 of them lost their eyes and thousands are injured at the demonstrations!

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Sadly it makes total sense to me where the majority of the protestors are like commentor “baran” who commented above as:
————–
the only difference between hitler and erdoğan is that hitler just kills you and ends your misery while erdoğan makes you suffer. before all these revolutionary demonstrations, i was thinking about leaving Turkey. but now i have courage. i won’t leave it. i will fight for it like my ancestors. and i hope we will see erdoğan running away with his feet kicking his arse.
————–
4 people liked this till now. So I’m glad that more people did not die because of such protestors and their sick mentality. Do you know how many people died in Brazil?

Oh, there certainly are some good younger members of the CHP. But the internal power structure is a major, corrupt!, problem in itself, I am afraid. It isn’t suddenly a clean party, not in regions where they still hold onto power either.

freedom for all

totally true…we need new political structures…new parties…ones that can represent the ideals of the young generation.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Forget that, you will go and vote for CHP again. We know that, right?

Objektin Lemur

The protests have not come to an end… He was just very lucky with what happened in Egypt, that now nobody cares about what is going on in Turkey.

Just this Wednesday, the police turned Istiklal into warzone, because the family of Berkin Elvan a 14 year old kid who is in coma because the police shot him in the head with a tear gas canister (they aim at people’s heads) while he was passing near the demonstration, wanted to make a press release. They weren’t allowed. Instead the people who gathered for the press release was dispersed by force, gassed and attacked as if they were terrorists.

Just today, the Istiklal street is again a war zone, because there was a call in facebook to demonstrate in taksim. The police started attacking people in taksim even without waiting for them to gather for a demonstration. They have even arrested some guys who were sitting in a cafe.

This is worse then you think. It is not calm calculated revenge against media or something. They are berserk with rage on the streets.

Michael_van_der_Galien

Yes, I saw it. You are completely right about the old folks being arrested while they were sitting in a cafe. I believe they were drinking tea or something, minding their own business. The videos clearly show that a waiter who defended his customers was beaten up as well.

Re. attention: you’re right. The protests haven’t ended yet… not in Istanbul at least. There’s still stuff going on, about which I will report later this month.

Tomorrow: an article about the Ergenekon trial.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You are not a good journalist Michael, I’m really sorry. This is not journalism. You are talking on speculations rather than facts. Read this please: http://gundem.milliyet.com.tr/icki-masasinda-gezi-gozaltisi-/gundem/detay/1745997/default.htm As you can see they were drunk and shouted to the police while the police were passing by as “what are you doing here, don’t be a fascist”. Then the police argued with them and they continued provoking the police. And finally they were taken into custody. This is the true story told by the witnesses and the waiters in the restaurant.

Michael_van_der_Galien

You know what’s so sick about your views? You actually believe that it is a-OK for policemen to harass people whom they think *might* protest, and then when people who may have drunk a bit of alcohol comment on it – which is their right – beating them up and taking them down is perfectly fine. There’s something very wrong with a person who espouses such views. Additionally, when it comes to reports about Gezi Parki, we have discovered that it’s probably best *not* to rely solely on Turkish media, because their owners are in league with the AKP or at least so afraid that they don’t dare criticize Erdogan et al. in any serious manner.

Finally, considering the amount of comments you leave here, it’s perfectly clear that you’re not just *a* reader who happens to come across *an* article.

Next time, I suggest you behave in a slightly less obvious way in comment sections, because the amount of time you spend on them and the passion with which you word your views are clear tell-tale signs of what you’re trying to do.

Finally, your strategy is also counterproductive: You’re too personal and aggressive. From the very start you automatically assume that whomever disagrees with you is ill-intentioned. Interestingly, that’s the exact same strategy used by the AKP’s leaders, such as Prime Minister Erdogan himself.

Just some tips you may want to use next time you decide to hijack a comment section *by among other things copy pasting your own comments.*

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I gave a reply to you previously, so I am not repeating, you can read my answer from the previous section.

Billie Jennison

Just a small correction to the article:

“Students who engage (or engaged) in resistance (…) will no longer be granted student loans” law was enacted back in 1997, before AKP was founded. Minister Suat Kılıç said that they will not be cutting the scholarships of the students joining the protests: http://www.ntvmsnbc.com/id/25458093/

TS

My word is to the ones who are trying to defend political parties or government in Turkey. This site should remain for comments of people who are freely thinking and act as free indivuduals without taking themselves obliged to defend any political party, especially the spoiled ones while their faults are presently seen considered and clearly observed. No one can cover the naked truth and distort it as you do.

It’s so simple, there is no freedom of speech, people afraid, no freedom of protest in peace. No free media and individual rights are not protected by law and enforcement. This is the naked truth, so don’t bother yourself that you can effect the people’s idea with this way.

And also i have add that as i see these are not going on the right path at Western countries as well, indeed Europe is better than anywhere else but not so brilliant certainly.

Billie Jennison

People are not avoiding CHP because they think it is “notoriously corrupt”. When did you make that up?

People avoiding CHP are doing so because they find it old-fashioned, nationalistic and bureucratic.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

I think Turkey does not need people like you. You can definitely leave before causing a civil war.

TS

My word is to the ones who are trying to defend political parties or government in Turkey. This site should remain for comments of people who are freely thinking and act as free indivuduals without taking themselves obliged to defend any political party, especially the spoiled ones while their faults are presently seen considered and clearly observed. No one can cover the naked truth and distort it as you do.

It’s so simple, there is no freedom of speech, people afraid, no freedom of protest in peace. No free media and individual rights are not protected by law and enforcement. This is the naked truth, so don’t bother yourself that you can effect the people’s idea with this way.

And also i have add that as i see these are not going on the right path at Western countries as well, indeed Europe is better than anywhere else but not so brilliant certainly.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

It is clear that who is trying to distort the truth and trying to change people’s minds You are not talking with facts. It is just wishful thinking you do. You want Turkey to fit into the image in your mind, so that you can justify the sick mentality you guys have. But sorry, Turkey is not the Turkey you are trying to show.

I am not defending any political party here. I just write what I see and what I know. Everybody votes for a political party in the end, including you. It is funny that most of you guys are voting for CHP (Kemalist party) and the few remaining for socialist-comunist parties in Turkey, but you cannot openly state this truth and instead say you are not supporting any party. Because all of you know that your ideology is totally wrong and will not be accepted in the foreign media. So you hide your political identities, you are funny…

TS

I think you are putting things into image at your mind. ou are assuming but you are wrong. I am not voting to CHP or other socialist parties. You cannot blame people without being sure first of all. You have to keep calm with your thoughts.
I haven’t mean you, my message was clear, it was for everybody for all political parties and government in Turkey. If you take it offense to you and still trying to defend government actions, then indeed you are included to my message as well.
Why are you defending government so much i wonder?

strange enough journalist who published the poll results got into police custody get your facts straight and gtfo you troll

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

That is not this poll, and watch your words, I’m not insulting you. Also she is not taken into custody for that poll, but for the things she did in the protests. She was released quickly also.

Trollbrainbasher

as if they were supposed to say it was because of publishing that poll funny you seam to believe everything government agencies declare, was it that way 10 years ago too or is it because you are a fan of current governors? your deception here is an insult, considering it would be that easy

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

So you mean the police officer knew that she published that article on Zaman. The police looked for her in the crowds and found her specifically and took her to custody. Come on This is what I meant by “common sense” and it looks you do not have it. It is obvious that while taking many others she was also there and taken by the police and then released in a very short time. No need for dramatizing it. There are much worse biased news and reports about Erdoğan and his party on opposition newspapers. Nobody has been arrested for that reason.

justice

you are a soldier, you do not have your own ideas because you are engaged to defend government. It’s crystal clear. The way you write is not objective. Nobody takes you serious this way. So don’t bother yourself much

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Yav he he

lokus

WRONG AGAIN! go out on the damn streets and ask people who they vote for! please do it…a big majority will tell you that they dont or wont vote for CHP. its driving me insane how brainwashed some people can be…its just mental.

It is my post but it includes data. You are again replying before reading.

lokus

seriously i read a few sentences and its same old blahblah we ve been hearing for the last 10 years. its time to change…maybe erdogan was some sort of transition from the army controlled constitution but its no better than 20 years ago trust me. erdogan is a fascist. thats it. and we want freedom. people like you say turkey as economic growth…maybe but you have 1% of loaded people and 99% living in hell. it proves again that capitalism doesnt democracy to exist. i mean if you can live with the fact that all our resources (land, habors, telecoms, forests etc etc.) are being sold. fair enough. if you can live with the fact that turkey is number 1 for a number of human rights violations. fair enough again. i respect the fact that you like totalitarian regimes. just dont come with the ”turkey is a democracy”sentence. thats it…the rest is your opinion. i can argument about it but i will not force it down your throat. anyway since history repeats itself, like any other authoritarian person erdogans faith will be the same. it just depends on how long it ll take.

No I read that article too, don’t worry. I know how well he is playing with the numbers since his father in law general “Çetin Doğan” is being trialed for an attempt to topple the government by a coup. Mahçupyan wrote several articles about him. You can read one from here. http://www.todayszaman.com/columnists-307048-dani-rodrik-for-the-last-time.html Rodrik is basically lying and playing with the data for obvious reasons.

I will cite Mahçupyan’s words: “It is a pathetic situation, particularly for a person who advertises himself as a scholar.”

Trollbrainbasher

ohh yes, rodrik would fall to that method for obvious reasons and a political figure wouldn’t do that because? why should i give a fuck to mahcupyan?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Also even if you accept that Rodrik is right my points in my article are still valid. Because he also says that GDP increased %60 which is still a huge improvement.

Trollbrainbasher

you are not brainwashed, you are trying to manipulate people for your agenda, for AKP’s agenda.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Is that your answer to that article really? Tell me which part of it is manipulation.

freedom for all

that aint no article…thats an opinion.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You were accusing me for classifying you What are you doing now Ahh guys…

freedom for all

do you know what classifying means? im just saying this isnt an article its an opinion…i would say propaganda but i wouldnt want to hurt your feelings. and still it wouldnt be close to classifying you.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

it is an opinion article based on facts. tell something against it. show me that I’m wrong.

freedom for all

yeah last time 2 to 3 million dead or non existing people voted for the AKP…now close to half a million syrians (al kaida related) will be given the turkish nationality…guess whom they ll vote for…i think we dont need people like you…stuck in some sort of dogma…you support a party like a football team..whether they cheat or are corrupted to the core wont change your opinion…you just follow your leader thru the herd. good for you and your free thinking.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Read my posts and respond afterwards. Stop manipulation please. Read Tarhan Erdem’s post and then start talking. There is no single truth in what you say. Don’t post the information you get from facebook here, please.

lokus

stop being a douche and ignoring all that stuff…if you consider what i say copy/paste from facebook…you obviously speak like a brainwashed AKP youth member. i have never ever voted in my life in turkey just because i never thought anyone was fit to represent my vision. you re protecting a maniac which doesnt care at all about anyone but the money he makes by selling of our land. that guy is a DICTATOR…and dont bullshit me with corrupted votes etc or 50%…small reminder hitler was elected too.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Ok you proved how right I am with this comment, thank you

TS

Aykirtibakis, try to listen, it’s better.
Do you think AKP was right to use power to stop the protestors? To destroy the environment for mining and being arrogant?

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

It depends on the protest. And yes, for these “so called” protests they had right to stop. It was not a legitimate protest. People tried to send him off by force while we have free elections. It was simply a fascist method. And the environmental concerns were just a nice looking cover to show this issue innocent.

TS

People were trying to defend the park and it’s legitimate right to make protests in peaceful terms as it was being done. And police and PM increased the tension like a dictator. Is that wrong? Or we watched another movie? Please try to see the case from this point of view. Fascism is done by arm and forces and by ruling the public. ?? Which one is fascist method? To kill people or to make protest?
I hope after this, you do not defend me murdering of people, because it makes me worry that you don’t give a damn on it, only here to defend the government as a soldier.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

You can criticize Erdoğan’s political style, but when you call him a dictator your criticism becomes mistrustful. He is the leader of a conservative party and there is nothing interesting here, it is written in their party foundation documents. There is nothing wrong with being a conservative. You may not like it, but you should respect the elections. Give me a concrete reason why you call him a dictator? (please something other than the press issue, since I explained it already) What did he really do to become a dictator?

I am not defending murdering of people, of course. But in such mass demonstrations it is almost impossible to prevent deaths completely, this is sad but a reality. 2 million people attended the protests. That’s why people like me are calling the protesters to stop. Because if they do not stop, it is obvious that more people will die and the situation will become even worse. So the protesters also have responsibility from those deaths, not just the government. Do you know how many people died in Brazil? It is inevitable.

TS

We can’t meet in a point. I didn’t call Erdogan as dictator!
You again do not read my last. I am asking to you!
I answer to you that protestors can not be fascist. This is funny. If protestors are fascist as you accuse what do you say for killing people then?
2 million people would not be there if couple of hundreds of protestors are not forced to get out from the park to cut the tress and police increase the attacks where people were sitting. Very unsuccessful way of governing and managing the situation in such a good democratic country, isn’t it? The speech of PM, that he will go ahead and people over there rubbish, was a tragic.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

… PM increased the tension like a dictator…. This is what you said. Ah ok, you did not say he is a dictator, you said he is like a dictator, sorry

You are accusing me but you do the same, I did not say the protesters are fascist. I said it is fascism to force a government to step down by force, while there are free elections and the majority is supporting him. We have elections soon why are you guys so stressed? Because you know that you will not be successful in the elections and you think you should do whatever you can until the elections. Because after the elections you will not have any chance again.

I am repeating again, you may not like him or the things he does. But your reactions and protests should be balanced. You cannot force a government to step down just because the PM has a harsh tone. Protest and anarchy are 2 different things.

Trollbrainbasher

lol, “to force government to step down is fascism”. makes one wonder have you ever read about fascism. turkish government pretty much demonstrated by the hand of police who holds the power and made protestors to give up on their fascistic ideals willingly:D people who died in the hands of police got what they deserved, don’t you think? you call call it divine justice with a smirk in your face. please write in turkish to privileged people who might listen your crap. we don’t fall victim to cheap deception and fallacy.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Yes it is fascism, exactly. Because there are free elections in Turkey. You cannot topple an elected government by force, against the will of the people. This video answers your points: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e72LkfOgLCg

freedom for all

yeah cause usually people keep sources of corruption.

Umit

Fantastic article, but your description of the CHP as ¨notoriously corrupt¨ is equally fantastically fallacious. The power struggle inside the party does not make it corrupt, on the contrary, this is a democratic struggle (between the social democrats and nationalists) that you can never find in the one-man-rule of the AKP. There has of course been incidents of corruption per se that the CHP was involved in the past just like every other major political party in Turkey, but, come on, it still is not ¨notoriously corrupt.¨

Surmenesakini

If you say anything against, once they detect you, you are kidnapped or somehow will find yourself in prison or even can be killed by anonymous police or “men of Erdogan” Obviously they have many men!

Trollbrainbasher

pretty much sums up what’s going on on press side… I’ve picked this one as it’s part of a media organization known have a bias in favor of AKP. let’s see how our troll gonna respond to this with his facts

First of all please watch your words. Instead of calling me troll, answer my points logically. You are showing your own quality.

Todays Zaman is writing these articles to damage the government’s image nowadays. Because this newspaper belongs to Gulen Movement, a religious group in Turkey and also in the world. They wanted to take whole control by placing their members to the critical positions in the state. They succeeded until some point. But afterwards Erdoğan saw that the situation is going dangerous and they are becoming so much powerful. Erdoğan is someone who would never share his legitimate power which he received from people with someone else. So he wanted to stop Gulen movement. He started that by announcing the dershane system (private courses helping students to pass university exams) will be shut down. This annoyed the Gulen movement because dershanes are a very important financial source for the movement. So they started to write these non-sense articles in their newspapers and media. And people like you who would normally be totally against the Gulen movement are so desperate that citing their sources and collaborating with their own enemy against Erdoğan.

lokus

if it wasnt for gulen erdogan wouldnt be where he is…they re trying to force him out cause he s not obeying gulen anymore…and in any case none is better than the other. thats their internal politics…it doesnt change anything for us…they re all the same.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

How many usernames do you have? Stop using different usernames while posting comments and trying to create an image that there are a lot of people against me They are all you. This is very childish and shows how desperate you are Who is really troll?

Pippisalamander

And I believe the US is complicit in this silencing because finding any news of Turkey is becoming more and more difficult. The media sources with the largest percentages of readers aren’t running the story at all.

Onur ERTEN

Are you freakin’ kiddin’ me? I’ve found this site by chance, but this is the most disinformative journal I’Ve ever seen. Regarding your “%71 of Egyptians oppose Muslim Brotherhood protests” article, all of your point is provoking Muslims. If there wouldn’t any speech freedom, you and the other liars like you wouldn’t speak even one word. Especially in Turkey. Hypocrisy and deception have become their main job nowadays.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

This is a quite islamophobic website my friend and sadly the opposition in Turkey is hand-in-hand with the islamophobics.

http://www.aykiribakis.com/ aykiribakis

Wishful thinking again Sorry my friend, but you will be disappointed once more. Just like after the Cumhuriyet meetings. You are not seeing things correctly. You just look from your own little window. I have a recommendation. The people who suffered most from fascism in the past in Turkey are Kurds. Why don’t you go and ask them whether they find Erdoğan fascist or not? Who is more fascist Erdoğan or CHP? Why Erdoğan is very powerful in Kurdish regions but CHP cannot exceed %2 percent in many places? Ask them and learn. You will be disappointed again, but truths often hurt, you should get used to it.

You say things are no better than 20 years ago but statistics don’t say that. People who really suffered don’t say that. Who are you? Did you suffer at those times? You, the elites, lived in your comfortable lifes all the time as you are living now. People died, people suffered and you were silent. Now you are protesting since you cannot buy alcohol after 22:00 from supermarkets just like many european countries. And this is your number 1 priority. Being “elite” is hard, I know

Burk Efe

Erdogan’s expiration date way passed.. And for those who think they will use GEZI against RTE to cap his chair (Abdullah Gul or any other Gulen backed up puppets) – you will not have a chance.. You will all be trialed at Silivri – for betrayal to nation, bribery and not being able to explain how you all became that RICH just with your official SALARIES…